


Who's Anna?

by MorganD



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Jalec Secret Santa 2017, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 20:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13131756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganD/pseuds/MorganD
Summary: A silly conversation as Jace and Alec walk the streets of New York on a chilly winter evening.





	Who's Anna?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lightwoodizm](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Lightwoodizm).



“Wow.”

“Don’t say it.”

“That was…”

“ _Please_ don’t say it.”

“I mean, let’s face it…”

“Come on, Jace...”

“You can’t drag me to watch a movie like that and not expect me to say _something!”_

“I didn’t know it would be like that!”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“It’s the truth!”

“Alec, you do nothing without planning ahead. You’re telling me you just randomly picked a movie, and you didn’t bother to check what it was about, and it just _happened_ to be the most ridiculously sappy thing ever?”

“It wasn’t random. My plan—in hindsight, an admittedly terrible plan—was to trust Isabelle.”

“Izzy picked this?!”

“I thought she understood… you know… the _importance_ of this. But I guess she couldn’t pass the opportunity to sabotage and embarrass her big brother.”

“Don’t be silly, she would not sabotage you.”

“Then maybe she wanted to sabotage… _us_.”

“You’re being paranoid, Alec. She’s been nothing but supportive so far.”

“How do you explain this, then? Because I’m pretty sure she knows you well enough to know that _that_ is not really your kind of movie.”

“Well, did she say anything about it when she recommended it?”

“Only that it’s from a couple of years ago, but that this theater is offering special screenings because of the holidays.”

“It’s not really a Christmas movie.”

“It’s… seasonal? Anyway, Clary and Simon found out Izzy didn’t know one of the songs in it, and they were somehow absolutely appalled by that, because apparently it’s a song _everyone_ knows.”

“Meaning all _mundanes_ know?”

“Probably. So they took her to watch it. _‘To introduce her the song in context,’_ they said.”

“There were a _lot_ of songs…”

“Izzy also said something about how… the characters reminded her of us.”

“Huh. Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Can’t say I see it. I mean… I suppose there’s _some_ resemblance between me and Kristoff, but…”

“Uh, no. I’m pretty sure she meant the two sisters.”

“Okay, that is just silly.”

“Is it?”

“Do I look like a warlock with ice-based powers to you?”

“I was thinking you look more like the other one.”

“Yeah, right.”

“No, really. As soon the movie started, sure, I thought little Kristoff kind of looked like you when you came to live with us. But right afterwards, the sisters appeared… and yep, little Anna was just like you.”

“Oh, this should be interesting. How so?”

“What, you don’t remember how you used to wake me up and drag me out of bed all the time? _‘Come on, Alec, wake up! Let’s have some fun!’”_

“I wanted to _train_ with you. You know, alone, without Hodge pestering us and telling us to take it easy.”

“That used to be your very definition of ‘fun’ back then.”

“Whatever. I am damn sure I never woke you up with the line, _‘Oh, the_ sky _is awake, so_ I’m _awake, so we_ have _to play!’_ Little drama queen…”

 “I remember you waking me up and saying that sleep is for sissies and mundanes, and that real Shadowhunters are above such weaknesses.”

“Hmm. Okay, sorry for that. I was parroting Valentine.”

“Well, I suppose _he_ was a real drama queen.”

“Anyway, just because I dragged you out of bed to train a few times when we were kids…”

“ _All_ the time. All through our teen years. And you did it again last week.”

“…does not mean I’m Anna. In fact, the way she blushes and stammers…”

“Don’t go there.”

“…and is totally awkward around handsome men…”

“Jace? Please shut up.”

“What? It’s so endearing! And very much _you_.”

“Anna is all… bubbly and perky and feisty… No one has _ever_ accused me of being bubbly. _Izzy_ would never see Anna singing to the pictures in the castle and think, _‘Hmm, that girl reminds me of my brother.’_ She used to call me an obnoxious wet blanket, remember?”

“Yeah. _Used_ to. You’ve changed, Alec.”

“Still, I have much better evidence that you’re Anna.”

“Like what?”

“…never mind. Forget it.”

“What? No, tell me.”

“It’s not important. What do you want to do now? Should we go straight back to the Institute, or do you want to have something to eat?”

“Don’t change the subject. What were you going to say?”

“Nothing. We’re having fun. I don’t want to bring the mood down.”

“Okay, now you _really_ have to tell me. Come on, parabatai. In good times and in bad times.”

“…fine. You know, in the beginning, when little Anna started jumping from one snow pile to the next? Jumping and jumping and never looking down, just going higher and higher, faster and faster…”

“Trusting Elsa to keep creating new snow piles to break her fall?”

“Yes.”

“Like you, shooting arrow after arrow to kill the demons that come after me as I jump headfirst into danger, trusting you to watch my back?”

“You don’t deny it, then.”

“I suppose there were times when… maybe… the similarities were not that far off.”

“When Elsa slipped and hit Anna… I think my heart stopped for a moment.”

“You would _never_ hit me. Not even by accident.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. For a fact. So get that out of your mind. And let me tell you why _you’re_ Anna.”

“I thought you said that idea was silly?”

“Well, it is. But… why not explore it?”

“Okay. Bring it. How am I Anna?”

“For starters, she kept feeling guilty for things that weren’t her fault. Her memories of Elsa’s powers were wiped and altered, and she didn’t even mean to take Elsa’s glove off.  So it’s not like she could predict that a simple argument with her sister could lead to the whole fiord freezing into perpetual winter. And yet what did she do when it all went to freezing hell? She immediately called all the blame to herself.”

“If you’re referring to what happened to Jocelyn…”

“That was definitely the worst point of your tendency to blame yourself for things entirely beyond your control. But it was hardly the only time it happened.”

“A leader takes responsibility for all failures. His and his team’s.”

“Alec, sometimes bad things just happen. You can’t be prepared for all contingencies. You can’t predict all possible outcomes. Other people will do stupid things and cause trouble, and that’s not on you.”

“Okay. I can accept that.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Sometimes it’s Clary’s fault.”

“I should know you’d go there.”

“And sometimes it’s _your_ fault. But usually when you’re following her lead.”

“I thought you two had made your peace.”

“We have. But… you know. She’s still Clary. And you know what? I put forth the hypothesis that _Clary_ is Anna.”

“Because of the hair?”

“Because she asked for Kristoff’s help to find her sister, just like Clary asked for our help to find her mother, and where did that lead? Colossal amounts of deadly danger. Monsters. Impostors. The threat of a coup d’état.”

“Hey, you can’t blame Anna… or Clary… for all that!”

“I can blame Anna for almost setting Kristoff on fire when she saved him from the wolves. Or almost hitting his head with an axe when she threw that rope so he wouldn’t fall off the cliff. And I can blame Clary for all the times her feisty, impulsive decisions endangered my parabatai’s life.”

“What did Kristoff’s say? That she ruined him for helping anyone ever again? Is that how you feel?”

“…of course not. I mean… I won’t say the thought never crossed my mind, but…”

“Liar. Clary could have caused you ten times the trouble she did, and you’d still be helping people. Although you’d probably have grown twenty times surlier in the process.”

“You have such a sweet way to praise me, Jace.”

“It’s not praise, just facts. You’re an inherently generous and cantankerous man.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You do agree with me about Clary and Anna, right?”

“Hmmm…”

“When Feisty-Pants Anna decided to pick a completely unnecessary fight with the giant snowman? By throwing a frigging _snowball_ at him? That was so Clary!”

“But dropping all the snow from that tree on the giant snowman’s face? Clever, and also very Clary.”

“What about when she tried to climb the mountain, not listening to anything Kristoff was saying? I could practically _hear_ Clary’s voice then.”

“Granted, there are similarities. But I still think Anna is a lot more like you. Down to her decision to get married to a complete stranger, totally out of the blue.”

“Mine was a strategic decision! I didn’t think I was in love. Also, I’m sure Lydia would resent your comparing her to that backstabbing Hans!”

“No, Hans was Jonathan for sure! The fucking traitor who we trusted with safe-keeping our kingdom.”

“And I guess you’ll say that makes me Anna, too, because I was the one who put Jonathan in charge of security.”

“No, you’re Anna because you’re blaming yourself for it, when it was Izzy and I who pushed you to open our doors to that creep, in spite of all your suspicions.”

“Well, it was my fault for letting myself be convinced, wasn’t it?”

“Right. Whatever you say, Anna.”

“Boy, you are relentless!”

“Speaking of relentless, how about when Elsa went away? Anna made it her personal mission to find her, no matter what obstacles were put in her way, even defying Elsa herself. Just like you’ve done for me over and over.”

“I suppose there was a sort of _‘whither thou goest, I will go’_ thing between them.”

“And even though the entire kingdom thought Elsa was an evil, demonic creature, Anna never failed to see the good in her. Sounds familiar?”

“Come on, I wasn’t the only one who stood by you when people thought you were the enemy.”

“Pretty short list, though. And your name was always on top, and everyone knew it.”

“Anyway, I’d say that hardly counts, since I was only being Anna because you were being completely Elsa!”

“How so?”

“Shutting people out, believing you were better off alone. If your special powers had included building ice castles on top of insurmountable mountains, I’m pretty sure you’d have done it.”

“I thought I had demon blood. I didn’t know what I was capable of. I was afraid people… you… might get hurt if I let you too close. No matter what, I had to keep you safe.”

“In other words, you were being an idiot.”

“You say that, Alec, but if one of us did his best to live in a remote ice castle, I’d say it was you.”

“Me?”

“You did everything you could to suppress who you really are. _‘Emotions get in the way,’_ you’d say. You locked yourself up, too.”

“So I’m Elsa now?”

“Only on this issue. And you noticed how when she was pacing around after she threw Anna and the others out, she kept telling herself, _‘Don’t feel! Don’t feel!’_ and all it did was to make her castle grow darker and eerier and more hostile, forming all those sharp spikes of ice?”

“You’re saying I’m… cold and prickly?”

“I think you know by now that your habit of bottling things up doesn’t make things easier… for you, or anyone around you.”

“Please! _‘Conceal it, don’t feel it, don’t let it show’?_ That could very well be the Shadowhunter motto.”

 “Heh. True. So we’re both Elsas in that regard.”

“There’s something else that makes me Elsa and you Anna.”

“What?”

“…”

“What, Alec?”

“Argh. Forget it. It’s like my mind is determined to ruin the mood.”

“You won’t. Just give me your hand and tell me.”

“…You know, at the end? When Hans found Elsa fleeing on the frozen ice?”

“Is this about Anna sacrificing herself for Elsa? Yeah, I’d have done it for you. And you’d have done it for me. That’s practically part of the oath we took.”

“Yeah, but…when Hans told Elsa that Anna was dead… Did you notice? Everything just… stopped. She fell on her knees, her powers shut off, the storm vanished. Everything went suddenly silent and still.”

“Alec…”

“When I felt you die… that’s exactly how it was for me. The world stopped. I couldn’t move. Nothing mattered anymore.”

“Hey. I’m here. Feel my hand in yours?”

“…yes.”

“Feel my heart beat with yours?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do. You’re here.”

“I’m okay. We’re okay. Don’t think about that.”

“All right. All right.”

“Good.”

“…What else do you have, then?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your list of reasons why I’m Anna.”

“Huh…”

“Yeah?”

“Nah, I think I’m done.”

“Come on, Jace, you were on a roll when I interrupted you. How else do I remind you of her?”

“Listen, it’s cold out here. And I think you offered me food? How about that diner you like on 62nd street?”

“Are _you_ dodging the subject now?”

“No. Just hungry. And cold. I think it’s gonna start snowing soon…”

“Jace…”

“Fine. I was just thinking… you know. About you and Magnus. And Anna and Hans.”

“You’re comparing Magnus to Hans now?! I thought we agreed that Hans was Jonathan.”

“No, it’s not that. But the way you jumped into a relationship with Magnus… You were acting like a married couple two months after you first met the guy.”

“So… you’re saying that I was so desperate for love that…”

“No, no. Well… yes. Anna thought that that was her one chance at happiness. She had been lonely all her life, and then one day the gates opened, and a charming stranger came in, flirted with her, made her feel appreciated and cherished, and she was terrified that the gates would close again and her chance would be gone.”

“That’s all too dramatic. It’s not like the doors of the Institute were about to close forever or anything like that.”

“But you were convinced Magnus was your one and only chance. Weren’t you?”

“…maybe. I don’t know. I was sure I would never find anyone inside the Institute, that’s true enough.”

“Guess you were wrong about that, huh?”

“Hmm. I still can’t believe…”

“…that we’re here?”

“I never had much reason to hope that you’d have a change of heart about me.”

“The heart always loved you, Alec. Right from the start. Trouble was getting my mind in sync with it.”

“Meaning… _‘the heart is not easily changed, but the head can be persuaded’?”_

“Those rock trolls kinda knew what they were talking about, eh?”

“Man, what is it about mundanes that they can think ‘rock trolls’ and picture cute balls of stone and moss rolling around, singing, and giving relationship advice?”

“Well, we don’t know for a fact that rock trolls can’t sing or aren’t experts on love. Just because it’s not in the Codex…”

“They’re definitely not cute. Or small. Or friendly to outsiders.”

“Which is why I prefer the movie’s version.”

“Even though it bears no resemblance to reality?”

“Verisimilitude is overrated. And I wasn’t in the mood for a documentary on demonic creatures of the Nordic region anyway.”

“But you were not expecting an animation for kids with a singing clueless snowman, a singing tribe of cute rock trolls, and a non-singing, possibly-telepathic reindeer named Sven.”

“No, I was expecting something more like a new adaptation of _Henry IV_. Or _Twelfth Night_. Depending on your mood.”

“I do have other interests than Shakespeare.”

“Yet you do tend to frown at any story written after the seventeenth century.”

“Not true!”

“Uh-huh…”

“You make me sound so dull…”

“Hey, I’m just teasing you.”

“I’m sorry, okay? I should have done better for our first date.”

“What?”

“What what?”

“Huh. Nothing.”

“What, Jace?”

“I guess I didn’t think of today in those terms.”

“You mean… this isn’t a date?”

“Oh, it’s a date, definitely. But… the first? We went to the movies lots of times before.”

“Not like this. Not since… you know.”

“Yeah, but… in my mind, first dates are all about trying to impress someone who doesn’t know you well, and trying to make that person think you’re better than you actually are. And that train has left the station years ago.”

“What, you, Mr. Hotty McPerfect, having to work to impress a date? Certainly not!”

“For the record, making fun of your date? Not advisable.”

“I’d have said that bragging shamelessly about your own good looks and skills during a date was also not advisable, but Raziel knows I’ve seen you pull it off time and time again, so what do I know?”

“You know _me_. You know that’s mostly crap. You know I’m a… Heh. A bit of a fixer-upper.”

“You did _not_ just say that.”

“It’s true, though, isn’t it? You always knew I was a fixer-upper. Since we were kids. You’ve always seen right through me. All my flaws and missing parts. That’s why I needed you to be my parabatai.”

“To fix you with true love?”

“And healing hugs. So said the song.”

“So sang the rolling mossy rock trolls.”

“The source doesn’t make their words of wisdom less accurate, Alec. Oh, if only there was someone out there who loved me…”

“Idiot...”

“Don’t be cruel. Am I not worth melting for?”

“You’re gonna be quoting this movie for the rest of our days, aren’t you?”

“Probably.”

“Just to punish me.”

“ _Punish_ you? Why?”

“For making you watch it, of course.”

“Well, it really was the sappiest movie I’ve ever seen.”

“Right.”

“And I’ll love it for the rest of my life.”

“…oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“But you won’t start singing, right?”

“I don’t know. I mean, if it does snow tonight, as the forecast said…”

“Oh, crap…”

_“‘Do you want to build a snowman?’”_

“Jace…”

_“‘It doesn't have to be a snowman…”_

“Raziel, please strike me down now…”

**Author's Note:**

> The movie discussed and quoted above is obviously Disney's "Frozen" (2013).
> 
> Lightwoodizm asked for “a mundane holiday, ‘this is a ridiculously sappy movie you dragged me to watch. I love it for the rest of my life...’, first time/first kiss, happy.” I tried to fit as many elements of that as I could in this. ;-D
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr as morgandeeyue.


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